Medico- Botanical Notices. 
189 
especially of the Mollucca Islands, where the fruit is eaten, 
and where a substance is said to be taken from the stem, re- 
sembling the Sago produced by trunks of many palms. But 
this is probably a mistake; at any rate, it is by no means 
from this tree, as some have supposed, nor from any species 
of Cycas, that the Sago of the shops is produced, but from a 
species of Sagus, a true palm, though from what particular 
species, or whether from any one exclusively, does not appear 
to be ascertained." He goes on to say, that when Rheede 
speaks of the Sago produced from the Todda panna, he evi- 
dently confounds some Japanese palm which produces Sago, 
with the Cycas circinalis. 
Dr. Hamilton is of opinion that the Sagvs genuina, Rum- 
phius (the S. inermis, Roxburgh ; S. Rumphii, Willdenow,) 
yields the best Sago, and the S. farinifera, Lamarck, the 
worst. 
Xanthorrkea hastile, or yellow gum of New South Wales, 
is, according to Mr. Bennett (o. c.) a shrub of eight to ten 
feet in height; the trunk is surrounded by two or more heads, 
each bearing a flowering stem, which rises from the centre of 
the foliage to the height of six feet or more. This scape ter- 
minates in a cylindrical spike of small white flowers, suc- 
ceeded by triangular capsules containing three black seeds in 
distinct cells. 
It secretes a yellow gum resembling gamboge, being exter- 
nally of a dull yellow appearance, but breaking with a bright 
yellow fracture. When heated it volatilizes, diffusing an 
agreeable odour resembling frankincense. It exudes from the 
trunk in very small globules, and is formed in very thin layers 
about the petioles of the leaves. There are several species, 
all of which furnish an analogous product. 
Cedrela odorata. — Among several interesting articles of the 
materia medica, &c. lately brought to this country by Mr. R. 
de la Sagra, director of the botanic garden of Havana, were 
several masses of a gum derived from the Cedrela odorata, or 
Spanish cedar, the wood of which is so extensively used for 
segar boxes. This wood, as is well known, has a disagree- 
able and somewhat nauseous odour, apparently depending -on 
